Mr. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley. He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was paid, she had no knowledge of it. It was then disclosed in the following manner. Observing his second daughter employed in trimming a hat, he suddenly addressed her with,

“I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy.”

“We are not in a way to know what Mr. Bingley likes,”said her mother resentfully,“since we are not to visit.”

“But you forget, mama,”said Elizabeth,“that we shall meet him at the assemblies, and that Mrs. Long has promised to introduce him.”

“I do not believe Mrs. Long will do any such thing. She has two nieces of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her.”

“No more have I,”said Mr. Bennet;“and I am glad to find that you do not depend on her serving you.”

Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply; but unable to contain herself, began scolding one of her daughters.

“Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.”

“Kitty has no discretion in her coughs,”said her father;“she times them ill.”

“I do not cough for my own amusement,”replied Kitty fretfully.

“When is your next ball to be, Lizzy?”

“To-morrow fortnight.”

“Aye, so it is,”cried her mother,“and Mrs. Long does not come back till the day before; so it will be impossible for her to introduce him, for she will not know him herself.”

“Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce Mr. Bingley to her.”

“Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him myself; how can you be so teasing?”

“I honour your circumspection. A fortnight's acquaintance is certainly very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight. But if we do not venture, somebody else will; and after all, Mrs. Long and her nieces must stand their chance; and therefore, as she will think it an act of kindness, if you decline the office, I will take it on myself.”

The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only,“Nonsense, nonsense!”

“What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?”cried he.“Do you consider the forms of introduction, and the stress that is laid on them, as nonsense? I cannot quite agree with you there. What say you, Mary? for you are a young lady of deep reflection I know, and read great books, and make extracts.”

Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.

“While Mary is adjusting her ideas,”he continued,“l(fā)et us return to Mr. Bingley.”

“I am sick of Mr. Bingley,”cried his wife.

“I am sorry to hear that; but why did not you tell me so before? If I had known as much this morning, I certainly would not have called on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we cannot escape the acquaintance now.”

The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished; that of Mrs. Bennet perhaps surpassing the rest; though when the first tumult of joy was over, she began to declare that it was what she had expected all the while.

“How good it was in you, my dear Mr. Bennet! But I knew I should persuade you at last. I was sure you loved our girls too well to neglect such an acquaintance. Well, how pleased I am! and it is such a good joke, too, that you should have gone this morning, and never said a word about it till now.”

“Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose,”said Mr. Bennet; and, as he spoke, he left the room, fatigued with the raptures of his wife.

“What an excellent father you have, girls,”said she, when the door was shut.“I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; or me either, for that matter. At our time of life, it is not so pleasant I can tell you, to be making new acquaintance every day; but for your sakes, we would do anything. Lydia, my love, though you are the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next ball.”

“Oh!”said Lydia stoutly,“I am not afraid; for though I am the youngest, I'm the tallest.”

The rest of the evening was spent in conjecturing how soon he would return Mr. Bennet's visit, and determining when they should ask him to dinner.

貝內(nèi)特先生是跟第一批人一起去拜訪了賓利先生。盡管他總是向太太保證說他不想去拜訪賓利先生，但他始終想去拜訪；而且直到他拜訪過后那天晚上，他的太太才知道這件事。當時這件事是以下面的方式披露的?？吹蕉畠涸诮o一頂帽子鑲邊，他突然對她說道：

“麗齊，我希望賓利先生會喜歡這頂帽子?！?

“我們不去拜訪，”她的媽媽充滿憤恨地說，“就不會知道賓利先生喜歡什么?！?

“可你忘記了，媽媽，”伊麗莎白說，“聚會時我們會遇見他，朗太太答應(yīng)過要介紹他的?！?

“我相信朗太太不會做這種事兒。她自己還有兩個侄女呢。她是一個自私偽善的女人，所以我瞧不起她?！?

“我也瞧不起她，”貝內(nèi)特先生說，“發(fā)現(xiàn)你不指靠她給你幫忙，我也很高興?！?

貝內(nèi)特太太不屑回答，但又控制不住自己，就開始責罵起了其中一個女兒。

“基蒂，行行好，不要一直這樣咳嗽了！稍微體諒一下我的神經(jīng)吧。你會撕碎我的神經(jīng)的。”

“基蒂咳嗽起來不管不顧，”她的爸爸說，“她咳嗽得不是時候。”

“我咳嗽又不是為了自己好玩?！被贌┰瓴话驳鼗氐馈?

“麗齊，你們下次舞會是什么時候？”

“明天起再過兩個星期。”

“唉，是這樣，”她的媽媽嚷道，“朗太太要等到舞會前一天才回來；這么說，她不可能來介紹他了，因為她自己都還不認識他呢?！?

“那么，親愛的，你可以搶在你的朋友前面，把賓利先生介紹給她?！?

“不可能，貝內(nèi)特先生，不可能，我自己跟他不熟悉。你怎么能這樣取笑呢？”

“你小心謹慎，我好有光彩。兩個星期的認識當然算不了什么。跟一個人相處兩個星期，不可能了解他的真正為人。不過，要是我們不冒險，別人就會冒險；別忘了，朗太太和她的侄女們一定會抓住這個良機；所以，她會認為這是對她的一番好意，要是你拒絕做這件事，那我就自己來吧。”

幾個女兒盯著她們的父親。貝內(nèi)特太太只是說：“胡說！胡說！”

“你這樣用力叫喊能有什么意思？”他大聲說道，“你認為正經(jīng)介紹和鄭重其事是胡說？你這樣說，我不大同意?，旣?，你說呢？因為我知道，你見解深刻，讀過一些巨著，還做過摘錄呢?！?

瑪麗想說幾句通曉事理的話，但又不知道該怎么說才好。

“在瑪麗整理思緒時，”他接著說道，“讓我們再說說賓利先生吧?！?

“我討厭賓利先生！”他的太太嚷道。

“聽到你這樣說，我很難過；可你為什么以前不對我這樣說呢？要是今天早上我知道這么多，那我肯定就不會去拜訪他了。真倒霉；不過，既然我已經(jīng)拜訪過了，那我們現(xiàn)在就避不開結(jié)交他嘍?！?

太太小姐們表現(xiàn)出的驚訝正是他希望的，也許貝內(nèi)特太太比女兒們更驚訝；然而，歡天喜地鬧過之后，她開口宣稱，這一直都是她意料之中的事兒。

“親愛的貝內(nèi)特先生，你心地真好啊！不過，我就知道我最后會說服你。我就確信你這樣疼愛我們的女兒，不會忘了去認識這樣一個人。啊，我真高興！這是一個多棒的玩笑??！你居然會今天上午去拜訪他，而且到現(xiàn)在都只字未提?！?

“好了，基蒂，你愛怎么咳嗽就怎么咳嗽吧，”貝內(nèi)特先生說；而且，他一邊說，一邊離開了房間，厭煩了太太的歡天喜地。

“姑娘們，你們有一位多么出色的爸爸?。　狈块T關(guān)上之后，她說，“我不知道你們?yōu)檫@件事會怎么報答他的恩情、怎么報答我。我可以告訴你們，我們活到了這個年紀，并不樂意每天去結(jié)交新朋友；不過，為了你們，我們什么都愿意做。麗迪雅，我的寶貝，盡管你年齡最小，但我敢說賓利先生下一場舞會一定會跟你跳舞?！?

“噢！”麗迪雅堅定地說，“我才不怕呢，因為盡管我最年輕，但我個子最高?！?

這個夜晚剩下的時間，她們是在猜測賓利先生會多快回訪貝內(nèi)特先生、決定何時請他吃飯中度過的。